GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Kent County sheriff's deputy was extremely disoriented and confused after he crashed his cruiser into parked vehicles on a Byron Township car repair lot, a police report obtained by MLive shows.

The report, released this week through the Freedom of Information Act, sheds light on the March 31 crash at Auto Masters, 6521 S. Division Ave.

The Kent County Sheriff's Department initially denied MLive and The Grand Rapids Press access to the report, based on concerns it would violate the deputy's rights to privacy because the crash was caused by a medical condition.

But MLive lodged a successful appeal to the county, and the denial was overturned this week in a decision signed by County Commission Board Chairman Dan Koorndyk and Undersheriff Jon Hess.

However, the sheriff's department took the step of blacking out all names in the report before it was released. The redactions included the names of all deputies who responded to the crash as well as all witnesses.

View full sizeA copy of the Kent County Sheriff's Department police report, for a March 31 crash involving a cruiser, shows the redactions made to conceal all identitiesMLive Media photo

The 3:20 a.m. crash damaged four vehicles on the auto repair and salvage lot after the deputy's cruiser careened off the road for no apparent reason.

According to the report, deputies who responded to the scene found the fellow officer still inside the cruiser, with his foot on the gas pedal and the tires spinning. The cruiser hit one car, pushing it into three others in a chain-reaction crash.

The 31-year-old deputy -- who had been on road patrol for one year -- sustained only minor physical injuries from the crash and was released from the hospital only hours later.

But the police report offers a glimpse at what turned out to be a frightening situation for other deputies who responded to the crash.

It also highlights the quick-thinking and training used by deputies to break the cruiser window and make the rescue.

One deputy described what he found:

"The driver's door was locked and the window was up and I saw him with his head down and being unresponsive. I then knocked on the window to ask if he could unlock the door and he was extremely disoriented and began to look at me fearfully as if he did not recognize me," the deputy wrote in a report.

The deputy broke the window with his baton and removed the injured officer's foot from the accelerator.

He described the deputy as confused and combative and "I noticed he was guarding his service pistol at all times."

The deputy used a flashlight to shine light on his own face and uniform, hoping it would help calm down the injured deputy and make him more comfortable.

It did.

The deputy was taken to Mercy Health St. Mary's Hospital for treatment.

Kent County sheriff's officials this week could not immediately provide the insurance settlement cost for the damaged vehicles on the Auto Masters lot, but expected to soon.

MLive, through FOIA, is also seeking the dashcam video of the incident from the crashed cruiser. (Update: The video was released by the sheriff's department on July 1 and has been added to this story.)

Attorneys for the Kent County Corporate Counsel office say they plan to release the video, but with alterations so the deputy's face is not shown and the audio of his voice is not heard.

County attorneys contend it is to "protect the privacy of the officer undergoing a medical condition and that of his family members" and that it would cause "embarrassment or harassment" because intimate personal medical information is contained in the recording.

"They are trying to apply HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to a situation where it likely is not applicable," said Dukarski, who also is an attorney for the Butzel Long firm.

"The police department is not acting as a covered entity under HIPAA," she said.

Dukarski said that HIPAA privacy rules generally to hospitals, medical insurance carriers, doctors and some others.

In redacting all deputies' names from the report, the county cites exceptions in the state FOIA law based on the possibility it could "endanger the life or safety of law enforcement officers" and "would not contribute significantly to the public's understanding of the government's functions."

Again, Dukarski believes the reasoning is invalid.

She said the deputy in the cruiser was performing functions of his job at the time of the crash.

"This is something that seems to weigh very much in the public interest," Dukarski said.

"The officers coming to the aid of others, including a fellow officer heroically, is a preeminent function. It should be recognized rather than hidden," she said.

The FOIA filed with the Kent County Sheriff's Department is the second recent successful effort by MLive to obtain a report through FOIA. Earlier this year, MLive initially was denied access to a police report relative to a federal lawsuit against the Forest Hills Schools district alleging gender-based discrimination.

MLIve filed an appeal and the sheriff's department provided the report, but again redacted names in the report and other information.